Eleuthera Acoustic Tracking Study Summary

Cape Eleuthera is the location of the groundbreaking studies that first reported that bonefish form pre-spawning aggregations along the southern coast and spawn at night near the deepwater drop-offs (see http://bit.ly/2AHATxl). However, little is known about bonefish movements throughout the rest of the island.

The Fisheries Conservation Foundation and several partner organizations (see below) have expanded their effort to use island-wide bonefish movements in an effort to locate all of the spawning aggregations in Eleuthera, Georgiana Burruss (Michigan State University) is leading these efforts to address the following questions:

Where are bonefish forming spawning aggregations in the five regions of interest on Eleuthera?

The design of the acoustic array is allowing the team to answer questions related to how abiotic factors (current, moon phase, seasonality, tide) influence bonefish spawning, how predators, such as great barracuda, Sphyraena barracuda, and blacktip shark, Carcharhinus limbatus, interact with the aggregation, the level of energy expenditure of migrating bonefish to their spawning site, and potentially insights on the physical act of spawning.
Collectively, findings from this study will be used to develop a management and conservation framework for bonefish and predatory species surrounding Eleuthera, The Bahamas.